BLM Lasertube LT12: Cut for the future

BLM Group’s new Lasertube LT12 is a fibre laser cutting system for tubes and metal profiles that is capable of cutting tubes from 25 to 305 mm in diameter, representing an offer which was previously missing from the company’s machine portfolio.

It is possible to equip the LT12 with laser resonators of different power, with the machine capable of processing tubes up to 62 kg/m. The structure comprises of a mandrel at the tail and a steady rest that supports the tube in cut. Among the innovations here is‘interpenetration’, where the mandrel enters the steady rest to cut the end of the bar and thereby achieve minimal waste.

As with all BLM’s Lasertube machines, the tube is supported throughout the processing line, providing precise and fast laser cutting on both small diameter tubes and long, heavy tubes, maintaining this speed and precision over the entire range of diameters.The flexible system caters to multiple sectors, but is of particular interest to industries where it is common to find open and closed profiles up to 305 mm in diameter.

The new Lasertube system is modular in both loading and unloading lengths. In fact, two sizes for loading (8.5 and 12.5 m) and several sizes for unloading are available. The possibility of loading bar lengths up to 12.5 m was made to elevate processing through nesting, which optimally arranges each cut on the bar, so as to make the most of the material while minimising unused bar sections.

For further information www.blmgroup.com

New waterjet to Sweden’s largest growth region

In 2022, the Swedish government estimated there was a total of 40,000 new jobs in the Norrbotten and Västerbotten region, a northern territory of Sweden. Norrsken Metall has been a well-known contract manufacturer in the region for many years. The company has experience of waterjet cutting since 2000 butits existing machine was worn out with recurring operational problems, so it was time to switch to a new and more reliable solution. Patrik Flodin and Niklas Fällman, owners of Norrsken Metall, got in touch with Christian Svensson, regional sales manager at Water Jet Sweden, a man with more than 25 years of experience in waterjet cutting machines.

“Together with the customer, we developed a machine solution that provides both increased capacity and better reliability,” says Svensson.

The Water Jet Sweden Grand model is a robust and powerful system for machining all types of materials, as well as for handling large or odd dimensions. Thanks to Water Jet Sweden’s patent, the machine offers the same high precision regardless of its size. The 3.2 x 7.7 m working area is divided into two working zones, allowing loading and unloading while the machine is running.

“There are many improvements,”reveals Svensson. “For instance, the systems for abrasive supply and sludge handling are extra powerful to handle cutting without interruption, and the machine is equipped with a more powerful pump for faster cutting.”

Thanks to its new investment, Norrsken Metall has both capacity and reliability to meet growing demand for waterjet cutting in the region. In fact, the company is already seeing growth, receiving several assignments from the new battery factory undergoing construction in the neighbourhood.

For further information www.waterjetsweden.com

SpiTrex uses Flexxbotics for robot-driven marking

Flexxbotics reports that SpiTrex Orthopedics (SpiTrex), a specialist in global medical device contract manufacturing, has selected the Flexxbotics solution for robot-driven manufacturing with autonomous process control in its Foba laser marking workcells.

The Flexxbotics solution enables robots to communicate directly with the Foba laser marking system and change jobs in real-time and within sequence, reducing changeover time to 10 minutes, twice a week. The robots also connect with the vision system, verifying the laser marking on each part to sortautonomously based on the results, thus ensuring closed-loop quality for higher yields.

“Flexxbotics is the only robot machine-tending software solution we found capable of delivering the precision, cycle time and closed-loop compliance required,” says Brett Gopal, senior vice president of operations at SpiTrex Orthopedics. “We’re impressed with Flexxbotics’ autonomous process control using robots, and the ability to close-the-loop by alerting upstream and downstream workcells of quality problems based on automated inspection results, which is quite unique.”

Software by Flexxbotics directs the robots to use the Cognex camera images to determine the pass/fail status of each part, sending alerts with the images to pre- and post-process workcells upon detecting non-conformance issues that need correcting.

Flexxbotics changes jobs in real-time and within sequence, enabling job change-over at SpiTrex in less than 10 minutes, as opposed to requiring an hour or more of an engineer’s time to set-up the workcell for a new job.

“The autonomous changeover process, coupled with the closed feedback loop functionality, enables us to produce extremely high tolerance parts through continuous flow which reduces the overall lead time by over 20%,” says Gopal.

For further information www.flexxbotics.com

Five-year warranty for Bodor laser components

Bodor Laser is releasing anexclusive service policy: five-year warranty care for a trio of core Bodor laser components: the BodorGenius laser head, BodorPower laser source and BodorThinker control system.

Supported by tens of thousands of trials, the integrated design of the core laser components demonstrates Bodor Laser’s holistic approach to tackling various industry challenges related to mismatched assembly.

“We came up with this integrated core laser components concept to assure customers of an effortless production process and excellent product quality,” says Adam Liu, CEO of Bodor Laser’s overseas marketing centre. “Problems such as connection failure, high maintenance costs and contamination risks have been bothering metal fabricators for a long time, but the integration of core laser components solves them once and for all.”

To provide the best user experience, Bodor Laser’s integrated design, production, testing, and delivery for the three core laser components reduces the failure rate, ensuring quality throughout transportation, delivery and maintenance.

With MTBF (mean time between failure) exceeding 45,000 hours in burn-in ageing tests, Bodor Laser says itreduces industry bottlenecks by designing an integrated technique for the three core laser components, ensuring compatibility and stable equipment running conditions for its users.

“Bodor Laser is committed to providing customers with the best solutions and services,” says Liu.“The integration of laser components results from our continuous R&D, and we’re confident it will bring a revolutionary service experience to clients. With the five-year warranty, we want to show our customers that we stand behind our products and value their trust and satisfaction.”

For further information www.bodor.com

Mazak releases new CNC machining centres




Now available from Mazak is the company’s new HCN-4000 NEO and HCN-5000 NEO horizontal machining centres and its VariAxis i-700 NEO five-axis vertical machining centre. The new NEO models achieve enhanced precision, boasting three times better than ISO positioning accuracy. Additionally, continuous machining accuracy sees stabilisation thanks to the new ‘Ai Thermal Shield’ function, which uses advanced algorithms to determine compensation according to fluctuating temperature. The result?Improved concentricity for machining operations such as end-to-end boring.

As part of Mazak’s Go Green environmental initiative to achieve a 50% reduction in its carbon footprint by 2030, the new NEO series represents the most environmentally friendly to date. Mazak has committed to making all machines manufactured in 2030 at least four times more efficient than machines manufactured in 2010. To create a more sustainable future and reduce consumption costs for manufacturers, the latest NEO series incorporates a raft of technology enhancements to deliver a 30% reduction in energy consumption for the VariAxis i-700 NEO and 24% for the HCN-4000/5000 NEO.

Environmental performance sees further gains via the Energy Saver Dashboard, with a graphic display of power and CO2 consumption for users to identify trends via a visual indicator.In addition, a Mazak Smooth Coolant system automatically optimises coolant volume discharge to drive additional energy savings. The Smooth Coolant system also incorporates a sludge removal performance system that keeps the coolant sump clean and prolongs the service life of cutting fluids.

If required, Mazak can pair the machines with an integrated high-rise PalleTech system featuring the latest PMC NEO software. With a new graphical user interface offering tutorial-style data entry and interactive set-up guidance, PMC NEO includes advanced system monitoring, resource management and ERP integration capability.
For further information www.mazakeu.co.uk